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Vietnam: Private sector to contribute 65% to Vietnam’s GDP by 2020

The Hanoitimes – The Government is taking a series of strong reforms in a move to increase the contribution of the private sector to 65 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the private sector currently made up 39-40 percent of the country’s GDP. It also accounts for 39 percent of the total social investment, and generates 11.9 percent of all jobs. Meanwhile, the State economic sector contributes 28.69 percent to the GDP. 
Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said that in the context of robust development of private sector, the firmly recognition of whole society plays an important part, stressing that the key role of the private sector as an important driving force of Vietnam’s economy.
According to Loc, the private sector must be given the same treatment as the State and foreign-owned sector if it is to drive Vietnam’s economic progress.
Leaders of private enterprise should give their own recommendations to alleviate difficulties and create the best possible environment to nurture the private economic sector’s development, he said.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also highlighted the recent substantial progress achieved by the private sector in a recent discussion on business policies with representatives from the private sector, however, he also pointed to a lack of large-scale private companies with most Vietnamese private enterprises being small-, medium- and micro-sized firms.
Phuc pledged that the government will continuously collect feedback from private firms to revamp relevant policies, improve the business climate and remove bottlenecks hindered their development. 
According to experts, stronger institutional reforms are needed to move forward, relaxing bureaucratic scrutiny on doing business, while securing fair competition by improving access to land, capital, information and other production factors for private firms.
Reports from the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed that the number of new firms established in Vietnam in February skyrocketed by 44 percent year-on-year to 7,864, fuelled by the macroeconomic stability and the Government’s reforms in easing the business environment.
With the rise, 18,703 firms with registered capital of VND197.3 trillion were licensed to start operations in the country in the first two months of the year, an increase of 29.4 percent in number and 29.3 percent in value.
GSO General Director Nguyen Bich Lam said that favorable conditions are still needed to increase the number of new businesses and startups in order to realize the target of 1 million enterprises by 2020, suggesting that the State should continue speeding up administrative reform, improving the business climate and legal framework.
Due attention must be paid to restructuring the economy, equitising state-owned enterprises, luring in more foreign direct investment, and facilitating the development of the private sector, while enforcing the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises, he said.
Inspection should be strengthened to ensure firms will make reports and provide timely and accurate information for competent agencies for better management, he added.
Pham Dinh Thuy, Director of the GSO’s Industrial Statistics Department, underlined the need to increase inspections and supervision to ensure that businesses operate effectively and legally.
Dialogues between State management agencies at all levels and enterprises should be conducted regularly, thus bettering the legal framework and policies to support enterprises, Thuy said.
The number of newly-established firms in Vietnam last year hit a record of nearly 127,000, with a combined registered capital of nearly VND1.3 quadrillion ($57 billion), year-on-year rises of 15 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Average registered capital was VND10.2 billion per company in 2017, increasing by 26.2 percent against the previous year. 
Source: http://www.hanoitimes.vn/economy/2018/03/81E0C322/private-sector-to-contribute-65-to-vietnam-s-gdp-by-2020/